Shady Beyond My Wildest Expectations
is the eighth episode of Survivor: Machu Picchu. Merge At the next challenge, it was revealed that the two tribes would merge. The merged tribe was named 'La Llorona' after a Peruvian myth known for crying. Challenges Reward Reward Challenge: Auction. Castaways attended an auction with ten items presented, each of which were covered. They were given $500 to bid with and were allowed to split their money in any way possible. Immunity Immunity Challenge: Flash Game Bingo. Castaways were tasked with hitting a threshold score on a variety of flash games in order to score a ‘bingo’ in the fastest amount of time possible. The castaway with the fastest time would win immunity and a one in nine shot at winning the title of Sole Survivor. Winner: Zach (5m39s) Summary After Drew H was idoled out, Viracocha and Urcaguary attended the next immunity challenge to discover that the tribes would now be merging. After attempting to name the merged tribe ‘trash’, the castaways settled on La Llorona, a mythical Peruvian spirit who killed a child then cried. Returning to camp, the castaways quickly began discussing the dynamic of the new tribe. The Louise and Jakey drama served as a magnet, causing several castaways to side with one of the two while other castaways deemed that Ally, Benj, and Jakey were very socially connected, which could be deemed threatening if they were allowed to go further. At the reward challenge, the Survivor Auction was revealed. After a variety of bidding strategies were used, Benj, Zach, Drew C, Bryce, and Tobi earned items. Benj received a black pearl, which would cast a vote against him at the ensuing tribal, and the ability to steal another castaway’s vote. Zach received a white pearl, which would negate the first vote cast against him. Drew C gained the ability to exile himself, as well as a double vote. Bryce received the ability to burn a vote while Tobi gained a cursed vote, which would allow him to cast a vote at his first tribal council as a juror. Shortly thereafter, La Llorona attended the next immunity challenge: flash game bingo. Nicholas made a point to flush his challenge advantage from the auction to diminish his threat level, while Zach emerged victorious and won the first individual immunity necklace. Back at camp, the Jakey-Louise rift continued to intensify. Despite the majority of castaways feeling Jakey was in the right, they also saw Louise as a weapon through which they could destabilize threatening players such as Jakey and Benj. Ally reconnected with Louise due to their bond on original Supay, and pulled in an isolated Drew C as a number, rallying a counter-vote against Jakey’s plan to unanimously boot Louise. Benj and Eva, on the other hand, quickly sided with Jakey due to their alliance of Piggies on original Viracocha. A third faction of Zach, Nicholas, and Bryce then formed, sharing similar concerns about the aforementioned threats and lacking a strong tie to either of the two factions. Within the first hour after immunity, Drew C felt ostracizing himself from half of the tribe at the upcoming tribal would derail his game once more and decided to exile himself, allowing him to beat his former placement. Shortly thereafter, the faction of Nicholas, Bryce, and Zach decided to side with Ally and Louise, rallying their votes to eliminate one of Jakey or Benj. Ultimately, Benj’s now public black pearl made him the more secure vote, causing them to resolve on voting him out 6-4, excluding Tobi due to his status as Benj’s ride or die. Amidst the division, no one knew where Eva stood, as she had only advocated for voting out Nicholas due to their rivalry. With the majority feigning compliance on the Louise vote, Jakey and Benj sensed that the vote had shifted because of how a seemingly unanimous vote was accompanied by silence. They decided to use Eva’s feigned lack of knowledge to get insight into the vote. Eva went to her old Viracocha 3.0 majority and attempted to gain knowledge of the plan, quickly discovering that the tide had turned and that the numbers had assembled against her ally. She then leaked this to the Piggies, who concluded that Benj would play his vote steal to flip the vote, which could tie it 5-5 or take majority if they gained another number. Under the impression that Nicholas was not in the majority, the minority attempted to pull him in as a number, which alerted the other side that their plan had been leaked. Furthermore, Jakey informed Nicholas that Benj would be playing an item, which heightened the chaos and paranoia. With moments until tribal and the knowledge of an item play incoming, the majority began to panic. The trio of Nicholas, Bryce, and Zach contemplated the possibility of throwing votes to counter an idol but were unsure if there was one in rotation outside of Nicholas’ Urcaguary idol. Bryce and Zach resolved on sticking to their plan, but Nicholas panicked and threw a vote for Eva at the last moment. As a result, the majority of five (accompanied by the black pearl) was fractured while the minority of four correctly played Benj’s vote steal, sending Louise to Ponderosa over Benj in a 5-4-1 vote. Tribal Council Voting Confessionals Final Words Still in the Running Trivia *The episode was named by Eva. External Links *Day 21 - Merge *Day 22 - Auction *Day 23 - Immunity *Day 23 - Immunity Results *Day 24 - Tribal Council 8: La Llorona *Day 24 - Tribal Council 8: La Llorona Results Category:Episodes Category:Survivor Episodes Category:Machu Picchu Episodes